Colossians

Purpose & theme

Colossians is Paul’s magnificent exaltation of the supremacy and all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Written to a church he had not personally founded, it answers a dangerous false teaching creeping into Colossae — a mixture of Jewish legalism, ascetic self-denial, angel worship, and speculative “philosophy” that promised a deeper spirituality through rules, rituals, and secret knowledge added to Christ. Paul’s response is not to argue point by point but to lift up Christ so high that every rival is exposed as empty. If believers grasp who Jesus truly is — the image of the invisible God, the Creator and sustainer of all things, the head of the church, the one “in whom the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” — then they will see that they need nothing added to Him, for “you have been filled in him” (2:9-10). The theme of the letter is Christ over all and Christ enough.

Around the towering “Christ hymn” of chapter 1, which sets forth Jesus as supreme over both creation and the new creation, Paul builds his argument: because Christ is supreme, He is sufficient; and because He is sufficient, believers must reject every hollow substitute and hold fast to Him alone. In Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3), and in Him God has “cancelled the record of debt” and “disarmed the rulers and authorities” at the cross (2:14-15). Having established the sufficiency of Christ, Paul turns to the new life that flows from union with Him: since believers have died and been raised with Christ, they are to “seek the things that are above,” put off the sins of the old self and put on the graces of the new, and let the word of Christ and the peace of Christ rule in their hearts, homes, work, and speech. Closely paralleling Ephesians, Colossians is a bracing reminder that Christ is enough — that in Him “you have been filled” and “Christ is all, and in all” (3:11).